Myanmar

F&N has produced and sold ThaiBev's Chang beer in Myanmar since 2019. (Photo by Nikkei)
Myanmar Crisis

In Myanmar, Chinese and Thai companies fill economic vacuum

As Western businesses exit country, investments come from friendly nations

10 September 2023
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, who heads Myanmar's military government, attends a parade in March 2023. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military reshuffles cabinet with eye on extended rule

Businesses face hard choices with no clear path back to normalcy

25 August 2023
A woman uses her phone in a Bangkok shopping center. A new service will allow app-based money transfers from Thailand to Myanmar.
Finance

Thai bank debuts mobile remittances to Myanmar

Kasikornbank eyes workers sending money home to family, while KBZ collects baht

23 August 2023
Indonesia hosted the East Asia Summit foreign ministers' meeting in July. ASEAN chairs host meetings with countries outside the bloc, which would make Myanmar's year awkward.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military regime to withdraw from chairing ASEAN in 2026

Prolonged crisis prompts decision to skip country's turn, sources say

16 August 2023
Soldiers of the Karen National Union (KNU) stand guard during a 70th anniversary event in 2019.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar's oldest resistance force KNU signals a new era

Leaders meet press, challenge military regime and promise transformation

12 August 2023
Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi attends an investment forum in Naypyitaw in January 2019. Though her prison sentence was recently reduced, the 78-year-old still faces over 25 years of incarceration.
The Nikkei View

Suu Kyi pardon does not legitimize Myanmar military rule

ASEAN unity is needed to implement measures to end chaos

9 August 2023
Singapore's United Overseas Bank is clamping down on business with Myanmar, a move one Yangon-based foreign financial sector expert said could have a "huge" impact. (Source photos by AP and Reuters) 
Myanmar Crisis

Key Singapore bank UOB moves to cut off Myanmar

Clampdown seen as response to U.S. pressure, reputational risks

9 August 2023
Hongkong and Shanghai Hotels, the operator of the luxury The Peninsula Hotels chain, suspended construction of a $130 million project in Myanmar soon after the military's takeover of the country in February 2021. 
Companies

Peninsula Hotels' Myanmar project to resume depending on 'economics:' CEO

Recovery of tourist travel to China slowed by 'geopolitical tensions'

3 August 2023
Members of Myanmar's Border Guard Force conduct a patrol in a Rakhine state village that had recently been attacked by the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Ethnic tensions have only grown since the 2021 military takeover. (Photo by Oliver Slow)
Books

Book review: An essential anatomy of what went wrong in Myanmar

Author Oliver Slow deftly explores the unraveling takeover and troubled path ahead

3 August 2023
Aung San Suu Kyi still faces a 27-year sentence for charges her former economic adviser called "absurd." (File photo by EPA/Jiji) 
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar's Suu Kyi 'pardon' sets stage for new diplomatic theater

Generals have reasons to strike softer tone -- and to think the world may buy it

2 August 2023
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops during an Armed Forces Day parade in Naypyitaw on March 27.  (Photo obtained by Nikkei)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military tightens grip on power but vexed by public backlash

Government again delays general election by extending state of emergency

2 August 2023
Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into custody during the February 2021 military takeover and sentenced to a total of 33 years in prison, for corruption and other alleged crimes.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar regime partially pardons Suu Kyi, cutting her sentence

Move announced on state TV as military faces pressure at home and abroad

1 August 2023
Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has reportedly been moved from prison to house arrest.
Myanmar Crisis

Suu Kyi's reported move to house arrest signals shift in Myanmar

Military government eases stance with eye on extending state of emergency

27 July 2023
The Yoma Central development project in Yangon ceased construction after Myanmar's military took over the national government.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar conglomerate Yoma bides time under military rule

Group pursues debt repayment after takeover spurs losses and cutbacks

24 July 2023
Students at New Blood School in Mae Sot, northwestern Thailand, on June 29 prepare to take the U.S. General Education Development tests. (Photo by Kosuke Inoue)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar kids in Thailand pull off U.S. high school diploma miracle

Mae Sot school helps those who fled military action re-imagine their futures

17 July 2023
Thai Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai speaks during the ASEAN foreign ministers’ meeting in Jakarta on July 13. (Pool via Reuters)
Myanmar Crisis

Some ASEAN members support Thai diplomacy toward Myanmar

Bloc releases statement following foreign ministers' meeting amid policy divide

14 July 2023
People in Yangon wait to take Japanese Language Proficiency Test on July 10.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar urges citizens to work abroad to ease forex shortage

Military threatens to pull HR agencies licenses if they delay sending workers

11 July 2023
An empty chair for the Myanmar delegation at the 2022 ASEAN summit in Phnom Penh: It was a mistake for the bloc to bar the junta from meetings.
Opinion

ASEAN needs to get back its old hardheaded realism

Bloc's handling of Myanmar and East Timor betrays erosion in strategic thinking

7 July 2023
Myanmar security forces guard the construction of a fence near the China-backed Letpadaung copper mine in 2014. Reports and activists now say the mine is ringed with land mines. (File photo by AP) 
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar land mine danger grows as military rings Chinese assets

Experts say regime desperate to offer Beijing 'stability' for projects

3 July 2023
The military's takeover of Myanmar in February 2021, and the ensuing policy distortions and violence, have put a deep dent in the economy. (Source photos by Reuters and AP) 
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar's crisis will 'permanently' scar economy, World Bank warns

Wages are falling as unemployment rises under military regime

27 June 2023
Stacks of Myanmar kyat sit on a counter at a bank in Yangon.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar interventions threaten to create 3 forex rates

Military government cracks down on black-market trades to stem weakening of kyat

27 June 2023
Protesters hold up a portrait of Aung San Suu Kyi and raise three-finger salutes during a demonstration to mark the second anniversary of Myanmar's 2021 military coup, outside the Embassy of Myanmar in Bangkok on February 1.
Myanmar Crisis

Thailand-led regional meeting on Myanmar divides ASEAN

Move by caretaker government angers bloc's chair Indonesia

19 June 2023
Staffers of the World Food Programme distribute food in cyclone-affected areas in Rakhine, Myanmar, in mid-May. (Photo coutesy of WFP)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar suspends U.N. access to cyclone-hit Rakhine region

Halt of aid seen bringing more suffering to people, including Rohingya

14 June 2023
Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang met with Myanmar's commander in chief, Gen. Min Aung Hlain, in Myanmar's capital of Naypyitaw on May 2. (Xinhua photo via Kyodo)
Comment

China's dual aims in Myanmar: Indian Ocean access, crime fighting

Beijing wields enormous influence but backing of military government not 100%

12 June 2023
Thingyan revelers celebrate in Yangon: Government atrocities and oppression didn't stop people from letting loose during the New Year water festival. (Photo by Monica Mang)
Tea Leaves

To laugh or not to laugh on Yangon's mean streets

In post-takeover Myanmar, life goes on despite the background horror

7 June 2023